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Semivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel (or glide) is a sound, such as English or ("y"), that is phonetically equivalent to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.Ladefoged and Maddieson, p. 322 Classification Semivowels form a subclass of approximants. Martínez-Celdrán (2004), p. 9 Although "semivowel" and "approximant" are sometimes treated as synonymous, most authors agree that not all approximants are semivowels, although the exact details may vary from author to author. For example, Ladefoged and Maddieson consider that the labiodental approximant is not a semivowel,Ladefoged and Maddieson, p. 323 while Martínez-Celdrán proposes that it should be considered a semivowel.Martínez-Celdrán (2004), p. 8 Types of semivowel Martínez-Celdrán lists four semivowels according to what he calls "the established classification": they correspond to the four close cardinal vowel sounds:Martínez-Celdrán, p. 9 In addition, some authors consider the rhotic approximants , to be semivowels corresponding to R-colored vowels such as . As mentioned above, the labiodental approximant is considered a semivowel in some treatments, but not others. In some languages, such as Nepali, there exist semivowels corresponding to mid-vowels. For example, colloquial Nepali has , which contrasts with the closer . Contrast with vowels Semivowels, by definition, contrast with vowels by being non-syllabic. In addition, they usually contrast at the phonetic level by being shorter than vowels. In some languages, (Amharic, Yoruba, and Zuni), studies have shown that semivowels are produced with a narrower constriction in the vocal tract than their corresponding vowels. Nevertheless, in some cases semivowels may be effectively interchangeable with vowels. For example, the English word fly can be considered either as consisting phonemically of an open syllable ending in a diphthong , or as a closed syllable ending in a semivowel . Contrast with fricatives/spirant approximants According to the standard definitions, semivowels (such as ) contrast with fricatives (such as ) in that fricatives produce turbulence, while semivowels do not. In discussing Spanish, Martínez-Celdrán suggests setting up a third category of "spirant approximant", contrasting both with semivowel approximants and with fricatives.Martínez-Celdrán, p. 6 Though the spirant approximant is more constricted (having a lower F2 amplitude), longer, and unspecified for rounding (e.g. viuda 'widow' vs ayuda 'help'), the distributional overlap is limited. The spirant approximant can only appear in the syllable onset (including word-initially, where the semivowel never appears). The two overlap in distribution after and : enyesar ('to plaster') aniego ('flood') and, although there is dialectal and ideolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs like ''ab'ye'cto ('abject') vs ab'ie'rto ('opened'). One potential minimal pair (depending on dialect) is ya visto ('I already dress') vs y ha visto ('and he has seen'). Again, this is not present in all dialects. Other dialects differ in either merging the two or in enhancing the contrast by moving the former to another place of articulation (e.g. ). Contrast between close and mid semi-vowels Samoan also contrasts close semivowels with mid ones: * Samoan ’ai ('probably') * Samoan ’ae ('but') * Samoan ’auro ('gold') * Samoan ao ('a cloud') Romanian contrasts the diphthong with , a perceptually similar approximant-vowel sequence. The diphthong is analyzed as a single segment while the approximant-vowel sequence is analyzed as two separate segments. In addition to phonological justifications for the distinction (such as the diphthong alternating with in singular-plural pairs), there are phonetic differences between the pair: * has a greater duration than *The transition between the two elements is longer and faster for than with the former having a higher F2 onset (i.e. greater constriction of the articulators). Although a phonological parallel exists between and , the production and perception of phonetic contrasts between the two is much weaker, likely due to a lower lexical load for (which is limited largely to loanwords from French) and a difficulty in maintaining contrasts between two back rounded glides in comparison to front ones. Transcription Semivowels are transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet either using dedicated symbols (e.g. ) or by adding the non-syllabic diacritic (an inverted breve below) to a vowel sound (e.g. ). The same diacritic is placed under iota ( ) to represent the Proto-Indo-European semivowel as it relates to Greek grammar; upsilon with an inverted breve below ( ) is used alongside digamma (ϝ) to represent the Proto-Indo-European semivowel .Herbert Weir Smyth. Greek Grammar. par. 20 a: semivowels. See also * Diphthong * List of phonetics topics * Syllabic consonant * Vowel cluster * Hiatus (linguistics) References Bibliography * * * * * * Further reading * Category:Vowels br:Damvogalenn ca:Semivocal da:Halvvokal de:Halbvokal es:Semivocal fr:Semi-voyelle ko:반모음 hu:Félhangzó ja:半母音 nn:Halvvokal pl:Spółgłoska półotwarta pt:Semivogal ro:Semivocală fi:Puolivokaali sv:Halvvokal zh:半元音